The Classical Doctrine of Indian Medicine: Its Origins and its Greek Parallels c9.99

c9.99

² Bergaigne, *Rel. véd.*, I, 239, sees therein the effect of the mechanical vocal application of the same attribute to the two partners of a pair designated in the dual number, whereas this attribute fits only one of them. In fact he could not conceive that one could have believed that the woman delivered a “semen”. But this was a banal belief of antiquity, not only in India but also in the Hellenic world (cf., Censorinus, *De die natii*, VI, who attributes it to Alcmeon, Epicurus, Anaxagoras, Empedocles and Parmenides). The secretion of the vulvo-vaginal glands during coitus could mislead in this respect. One could easily take for genitals a secretion, which was only sexual, cf., *infra*, p. 190.